Saturday, June 12, 2010

Near North Riverfront Neighborhood

Near North Riverfront is a long and slender north St. Louis neighborhood that runs right along the Mississippi River. It's bound by Carr to the south, I-70 to the west, Adelaide to the north and the river to east.

It's not really a residential neighborhood, but 648 were counted there in 2000. That's a 90% increase over 1990. 55% of the residents are black, 44% white. There are only 157 housing units, 48% are occupied. 36% are owned, 64% rented.

The North Broadway Business Association is active in advancing Near North Riverfront interests. The City of St. Louis is a significant player in shaping current and future economic developments of the area. The area is home to more than 200 business. Proctor & Gamble, Dial Inc., Duke Manufacturing Company, Roadway Express, and Leaf Inc. are only a few of the businesses active in the area. This large and smaller operations provide numerous employment possibilities to nearby residents.

The vast majority of the area is devoted to railways, warehousing, wholesale and industrial operations. There's a lot of wide open operations creating vistas like this:

There is a lot of open space for future industrial expansions. There is quite a lot of activity here with truckers everywhere and smoke rising out of factories. Workers are scurrying about....always a good thing. Several of the restaurants and bars seems well patronized. I get the sense that this neighborhood employs many, many people. I actually pine for the days where America made stuff. I mean not everyone wants or can go to college or trade school. We need factory and manufacturing jobs. I like the days when my Levi's, Dickie's and Chuck Taylor's were US made.

Procter and Gamble has one of the largest manufacturing facilities in Near North Riverfront and the GREAT news is they are planning to expand. Here's a story from the St. Louis Business Journal:

Procter & Gamble has spent $80 million upgrading its North St. Louis manufacturing plant over the past two years and is eyeing future expansion that could bring an additional $150 million investment over five years.

P&G has had preliminary talks with St. Louis officials for incentives to help offset equipment and facility upgrades at its 33-acre plant at 169 and 110 E. Grand, located just east of Interstate 70 and two blocks away from the Mississippi riverfront.

The global consumer products company has been upgrading several of its manufacturing lines at the Grand Avenue campus since the start of the year. It plans to break ground by November on a new 25,000 square foot administration building on the campus, which it has owned for nearly a century, said Plant Manager Frank Blumling; “The one we’re in now is 120 years old,”.

Details of the proposed expansion will be presented when the city’s Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority meets in July. At that time, the company will make a request for a bond issue for up to $150 million, according to city officials.

Here is what PandG looks like today:

This is a working part of the city with a large refuse division and MSD water treatment facility.

Near North Riverfront is also home to St. Louis' produce row, which is a pretty cool sight with it's old school loading bays for European, Chinese, Hispanic and all other kinds of fruits/veggies:

There is some residential property west of Broadway. And there are quite a few abandoned homes as well. Check out the peeled back roof on this one:

This could be a nice little housing area. And what a great place to live if you work at PandG or any of the other factories in Near North Riverfront:

Broadway is just an awesome street north of the Ram's football stadium. Here are some of the sites along B'way:

Lunch? Ice cold Busch? Tattoo? Why not try Shady Jack's:

The buildings range from mid-century modern:

To the old classics:

The beautiful Bremen Bank, right next to Chili Mac's diner and chili parlor (arguably the coolest looking diner in the city):

Several other bars/restaurants are alive and kicking:

By my estimation, there are two main reasons (other than the Chili Mac Diner) to visit Near North Riverfront, the first being the awesome Riverfront Trail which extends from the old Union Light and Power and Laclede Power buildings 11 miles north along the Mississippi to the Chain of Rocks Bridge. The trail head is a short ride/walk from the Laclede's Landing Metrolink stop:

The second reason to visit Near North Riverfront is this awesome fish/shrimp/sandwich shop called The Shrimp Shack. A place that reminds me of Arthur Bryant's in Kansas City in that there are people from the neighborhood as well as workers in nearby factories and men in suits stopping in to enjoy the offerings:

I found some commentary, and what I feel is effective and appropriate use of the F-word. One should always challenge the establishment, no?:

This one is my favorite, as some church group with (I assume) the best of intentions, painted up some structures just north of the trail head with all kinds of bright colors and sappy naive messages and the natives reclaimed their territory with a little commentary of their own:

It's a tug of war between positivity and negativity, and usually I'm an optimist, but due to my lack of respect for contemporary hippies (jam bands are to blame), ^I'm with JiZ on this issue.

It's not just huge businesses and factories active in Near North Riverfront. There are many small businesses in some cool old structures:

^ This firehouse is quite reminiscent of the one in the Hi-Pointe neighborhood at the I-64 and McCausland area.

It's good to see some additional investment in Near North Riverfront:

There a many, many abandoned factories awaiting new life:

^You know Collinsville, Illinois is a major horseradish farming area in the U.S.

There are some cool train trestles from what a worker in the neighborhood told me were once electric powered trains that carried stuff from the river toward the city:

Other sites in Near North Riverfront:

There is a rather surreal Buddhist monument area:

And there are awesome views of Downtown from Near North Riverfront:

I can't wait to see if the North Riverfront is as cool as Near North Riverfront.

Excellent blog post. Looks like there was a diesel spill today between Bissell Point Wastewater Treatment Plant and Procter and Gamble. Here is the link to a Post-Dispatch article.http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/C204DA715ED356F58625774300611BCF?OpenDocument#tp_newCommentAnchor